With age, a large percentage of the population develops atherosclerotic arterial obstructions resulting in diminished blood circulation. The disturbance to the blood flow that these obstructions cause may induce blood clots which further block the blood flow. When this process occurs in the coronary arteries, which serve the heart muscle, it is referred to as a "heart attack".
The coronary arteries are generally located on the outer surface of the heart. An established method to overcome the problem is to surgically graft a bypass made of the patient's own vein. The bypass connects the aorta to the artery at a point which is downstream of the obstruction. Such a bypass supplies oxygenated blood to the previously obstructed section of the artery and to the portion of the heart muscle which is served by it.
Grafting a bypass usually entails a major surgery that frail patients often can not endure, additionally, it is an expensive and traumatic procedure.
An objective of the present invention is to provide an internal bypass (i.e., a bypass formed inside the heart rather than outside the heart) through the left-chamber's wall to a point along the obstructed artery which is downstream of the obstruction.
A further objective is to provide an internal bypass which can be placed in the left-chamber's wall through the vascular system without requiring major surgery.
These and other objectives of the invention will become apparent from the following discussion and the accompanying drawings.